Jun 29, 2014 12:20 PM

Please can someone identify this tree. It appears to be covered in burls, but in my opinion, they just make it incredibly beautiful and unusual. By looking at the leaves, I thought it may be an oak of some kind, but I'm not sure if you get 2 trunks on oak trees.

Also, please can you confirm whether or not the growths on the trunk and branches are, in fact, burls. Every part of the wood on trunk and branches appears to be affected in some way, either by the growths themselves or by the stringy looking bark. Is this all part of a disease of some kind?

The tree has been there for years and seems perfectly healthy. I have been intrigued by it for years and would love your help in answering my questions.

I'm pretty sure it is a black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia (close-ups of leaves and flowers would help).

They do occur with such burls, and yes I would call these burls. Such growths are more of a disorganized cellular proliferation rather than a disease in itself, though they can be triggered/mediated by bacterial infection, I think.

At your suggestion that it is a black locust, I googled some info. and pictures of it and it certainly looks as if you are correct. I'm afraid I don't have photo's of the flowers, but having now seen pictures of them, I do have a vague recollection that the flowers on this tree are the same.

Thank you for solving the mystery for me.

I actually think the burls just add to the beauty of this tree. I don't know why, but it puts me in mind of a bonsai - though a giant one, of course!!!